[silvergray545]

I understand to burn fat, you need to keep your heart rate in a certain range. My problem is, I seem to excede the required range quite easily. When I run on the elliptical, at an average of 6 mph, my heart rate shoots up to 170. I use the monitor on the elliptical to measure it. I'm not sure if that's right or if it's even good. I do about a half hour everyday on the elliptical and then I lift afterwards.

Is that normal for my heart rate to be that high when running? I am a little over weight but I try to stay active when school isn't always ruling my life. I walk instead of drive around campus. I take the stairs instead of elevators. I snowboard 3-4 times a week, for at least 4 hours at a time, if not longer. I don't get tired easily. Even on the elliptical, I can do 30 min at 6 mph fine. But my heart rate is high the whole time.

So my question is, what is the ideal heart rate to burn fat? And with my heart rate getting as high as it does, is that unhealthy for me to keep doing?

[Quick6EF]

Exercise is great for your heart; when it comes to weight-loss you're very confused.

A caloric deficit will result in weight loss. I don't do any cardio besides playing sports and can manipulate my weight with just my diet.

[infinitekidM2C]

cardio burns calories too; not super efficiently but dieting alone seems like paddling with one oar

[silvergray545]

Originally Posted by Quick6EF

Exercise is great for your heart; when it comes to weight-loss you're very confused.

A caloric deficit will result in weight loss. I don't do any cardio besides playing sports and can manipulate my weight with just my diet.

Originally Posted by infinitekid2002

cardio burns calories too; not super efficiently but dieting alone seems like paddling with one oar

Makes sense now. I'll just keep doing what I've been doing. I heard about keeping your heart rate at a certain level blah blah blah. And I wasn't sure if it was bad if I went above or not.

[djlogan33]

Originally Posted by silvergray545

So my question is, what is the ideal heart rate to burn fat? And with my heart rate getting as high as it does, is that unhealthy for me to keep doing?

================================================== ===
The ideal heart rate (in general) is calculated like this:
- 220 minus your age times 75-85%
- maintain this heart rate for at least 30-minutes

Example:
- 220 minus 35-yrs-old = 185 times 75% (139bpm) to 85% (157bpm)
- around 145bpm (only if you are healthy)

A good test to see how fit you are is your heart's recovery rate.
After going 30-minutes at 75-85% target zone, how fast does your heart rate drops while doing a cool down? My heart rate drops over 30bpm during the 3-minute cool down.

[silvergray545]

Originally Posted by djlogan33

================================================== ===
The ideal heart rate (in general) is calculated like this:
- 220 minus your age times 75-85%
- maintain this heart rate for at least 30-minutes

Example:
- 220 minus 35-yrs-old = 185 times 75% (139bpm) to 85% (157bpm)
- around 145bpm (only if you are healthy)

A good test to see how fit you are is your heart's recovery rate.
After going 30-minutes at 75-85% target zone, how fast does your heart rate drops while doing a cool down? My heart rate drops over 30bpm during the 3-minute cool down.

220 - 22 = 198
198 * 75% = 148.5 bpm
198 * 85% = 168.3 bpm

So 170 isn't much higher than my ideal range. That's good to know.

I'll have to see how fast my heart rate drops during cool down. I've never really measured to be honest. Is a 30 bpm drop good or average?

[Red Bread]

Originally Posted by silvergray545

220 - 22 = 198
198 * 75% = 148.5 bpm
198 * 85% = 168.3 bpm

So 170 isn't much higher than my ideal range. That's good to know.

I'll have to see how fast my heart rate drops during cool down. I've never really measured to be honest. Is a 30 bpm drop good or average?

The calculations are simply an average, and relatively flawed. If you have an elliptical handy, figure out your max hr by just making it go as fast as you're comfortable with and use that after a minute or two. I'm 38 and my max is 197, resting is 48. I tend to train in the 160 range and do intervals in the 190+ range. Recovery is a matter of training. If you're doing a lot of max effort, your cool down will be quite quick. If you're not accustomed to training in a particular range, cool down will take a lot longer.

The HR monitors on those machines tend to be fairly accurate, but slow to reflect change. You can get a cheap HR monitor from Polar, Garmin or others and they're a great, basic way to improve your training.

[Quick6EF]

Originally Posted by infinitekid2002

cardio burns calories too; not super efficiently but dieting alone seems like paddling with one oar

Are you implying one would just be 'spinning their wheels' to rely on diet alone for weight loss?

[infinitekidM2C]

Originally Posted by Quick6EF

Are you implying one would just be 'spinning their wheels' to rely on diet alone for weight loss?

no..just rowing with one oar not like going in circles or whatever

Are you implying that cardio doesn't burn calories?

[adobeee]

You're probably putting more stress on your heart tihnking about this rather than from your exercise. hahaha :P

[silvergray545]

Originally Posted by Red Bread

The calculations are simply an average, and relatively flawed. If you have an elliptical handy, figure out your max hr by just making it go as fast as you're comfortable with and use that after a minute or two. I'm 38 and my max is 197, resting is 48. I tend to train in the 160 range and do intervals in the 190+ range. Recovery is a matter of training. If you're doing a lot of max effort, your cool down will be quite quick. If you're not accustomed to training in a particular range, cool down will take a lot longer.

The HR monitors on those machines tend to be fairly accurate, but slow to reflect change. You can get a cheap HR monitor from Polar, Garmin or others and they're a great, basic way to improve your training.

Thanks for the explanation. I'm gonna get some numbers when I go to the gym so I can figure out a range for myself.

Originally Posted by adobeee

You're probably putting more stress on your heart tihnking about this rather than from your exercise. hahaha :P

Haha I'm sure

[Quick6EF]

Originally Posted by infinitekid2002

no..just rowing with one oar not like going in circles or whatever

Are you implying that cardio doesn't burn calories?

You already know my answer to that....however, it is not required when you're looking to lose weight. It does create a greater deficit as you said.

[prichards516]

Diet + Excercise = Weight Loss

Instead of only doing the elliptical for 30mins, try to switch up the type of cardio you do. Your body will get used to performing that same excercise and you wont be getting tired as easily but you wont be losing as much calories as when you first began the regimen. I would also try to increase the cardio time each week as well, get your body really working lol

[positiveions]

Silver, kifo?
Your B/P and your HR should adjust to your exercises. Example: my B/P was 148/81 ,which is considered Hypertension, and HR 81 to 84. After exercising for about a month, my B/P is 127/67 and HR is 67 to 71. Make sure you drink lots and lots of fluid. That HR is dependent on circulating blood volume. The lower the volume, the higher the HR (makes sense, right?).
Now, let me tell you how i lost 50 lbs.
A)lots of cardio. I mean 5 miles run, 30 to 40 minutes elyptical, and 30 minutes of Stairmasters. You can alter them each time; just to confuse your body.
WHen you feel that you not getting results, push the limit up, or increase resistance.
Then you can tone your body by lifting weight. I don't know about you, but I don't like heavy weight. I just use light weights to tone my body.

[djlogan33]

Originally Posted by eatrach73

Silver, kifo?
Your B/P and your HR should adjust to your exercises. Example: my B/P was 148/81 ,which is considered Hypertension, and HR 81 to 84. After exercising for about a month, my B/P is 127/67 and HR is 67 to 71. Make sure you drink lots and lots of fluid. That HR is dependent on circulating blood volume. The lower the volume, the higher the HR (makes sense, right?).
Now, let me tell you how i lost 50 lbs.
A)lots of cardio. I mean 5 miles run, 30 to 40 minutes elyptical, and 30 minutes of Stairmasters. You can alter them each time; just to confuse your body.
WHen you feel that you not getting results, push the limit up, or increase resistance.
Then you can tone your body by lifting weight. I don't know about you, but I don't like heavy weight. I just use light weights to tone my body.

==============================================
The experts say, do not do any more than 45-minutes of cardio at your target heart rate. The first 10-15 minutes, you just lose water.
The next 10-15 minutes, you lose body-fat.
After 45-minutes, you could start losing muscle.

What I have found is a good way too lose body-fat, is to build muscle.
Larger muscles, burn fat without exercise.
The bigger the muscles, the more fat you burn.
The biggest muscles in our body is in our butt and legs (glutes, quads, hamstrings & calfs).

I have recently started doing heavy leg presses on the Solid Leg Press / Hack Squat Machine.
It’s the only building exercise I do that I start breathing heavy because of the large muscles that are being used.

I have noticed that I have lost overall body-fat, without changing my cardio or eating habits.
Because of the larger muscles, you may gain weight, but you will loses inches in the fat-zones.

Cardio exercise, weight training and good eating habits is the key to better fitness.

[silvergray545]

Originally Posted by eatrach73

Silver, kifo?
Your B/P and your HR should adjust to your exercises. Example: my B/P was 148/81 ,which is considered Hypertension, and HR 81 to 84. After exercising for about a month, my B/P is 127/67 and HR is 67 to 71. Make sure you drink lots and lots of fluid. That HR is dependent on circulating blood volume. The lower the volume, the higher the HR (makes sense, right?).
Now, let me tell you how i lost 50 lbs.
A)lots of cardio. I mean 5 miles run, 30 to 40 minutes elyptical, and 30 minutes of Stairmasters. You can alter them each time; just to confuse your body.
WHen you feel that you not getting results, push the limit up, or increase resistance.
Then you can tone your body by lifting weight. I don't know about you, but I don't like heavy weight. I just use light weights to tone my body.

Tamam habibi. Kifak int?

I try to drink a lot of fluids. Mainly water. If anything else, it's iced tea.

I've been so busy with school, I've only been able to make it to the gym 3 times a week. I need to kick up my cardio workouts.

Originally Posted by djlogan33

==============================================
The experts say, do not do any more than 45-minutes of cardio at your target heart rate. The first 10-15 minutes, you just lose water.
The next 10-15 minutes, you lose body-fat.
After 45-minutes, you could start losing muscle.

What I have found is a good way too lose body-fat, is to build muscle.
Larger muscles, burn fat without exercise.
The bigger the muscles, the more fat you burn.
The biggest muscles in our body is in our butt and legs (glutes, quads, hamstrings & calfs).

I have recently started doing heavy leg presses on the Solid Leg Press / Hack Squat Machine.
It’s the only building exercise I do that I start breathing heavy because of the large muscles that are being used.

I have noticed that I have lost overall body-fat, without changing my cardio or eating habits.
Because of the larger muscles, you may gain weight, but you will loses inches in the fat-zones.

Cardio exercise, weight training and good eating habits is the key to better fitness.

Thanks for your input. I heard before that building muscle also burns fat. I think a combination of cardio, lifting and diet should be my main focus. Right now, time has been my only enemy.

[zimbim]

You can really kick up your cardio by cross training with a P90X program or Insanity. I prefer the Insanity program, but you've got to be in decent shape 'cause it's very intense.